Russian military drills near neighboring Finland have provoked concern that northern Europe may be the next focus of Moscow's seemingly renewed appetite for redrawing its borders.

Troops and jet fighters from all four military regions of Russia were deployed Sunday about 150 miles east of the Finnish border, according to the English-language newspaper Finnbay. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that the exercises were pre-planned and that more than 50 fighter pilots took part.

Finland was part of the Russian empire for 108 years, from 1809 until Russias withdrawal from World War I in 1917. The Karelia region, where the war games are taking place, straddles the Finnish border and has historically been a heavily militarized zone for Moscow.

But experts say that while Moscow appears to have seized another opportunity to flex its muscles, the threat of an armed invasion is very low.

"The people of Helsinki are nervous. What Putin is doing is sending shock waves through Europe"

The last time Russia went into Finland, the Finns gave them a very rough time. I’m hoping this is just another Putin gesture, meant to encourage the EU to come to a reasonable settlement with him over Crimea.

The idea that Finland defeated the Soviets an amazingly persistent myth. The fact is that the Finns did bloody the Russians' noses in the early phases of the war, but in the end the sheer weight of numbers (and some command reforms of the purge-ravaged Red Army)could not be withstood. The Finns sued for peace and in the Treaty of Moscow, ceded 11% of their national territory, representing about 30% of their economic resources, to the USSR. They had to give 75 locomotives and 2000 rail cars. They had to give ships and trucks. They had to give something like a third of their hydroelectric generating capacity and one of their largest industrial complexes. The war worked out very well for the Russians, except for the bunch of people killed. And when did the Russians ever care about that?

But as we have seen in Ukraine, first Putin sends in a bunch of irregulars (aka GRU) to start destabilization propaganda, they the Finns of Russian descent clamor for Mama Russia to save them from the deplorable Finns.

Same tactics that we saw in Ukraine, Crimea, Venezuela and Commie parties everywhere.

Both the Russian and the Germans hated him. They did their best to kill him personally.

Why would the Germans try to kill him? The Finns and the Germans were allies during WW2. Besides which, Hayha was shot in the face toward the end of the Winter War and spent the next few years recovering.

Obama will feign an effort to counter neo-Russian belligerence. But I think his ideology supports a Soviet regrouping. His only concern is whether he can fake it long enough for his socialist handlers to hold on to power in the USA.

Obama’s actions thus far have been impotent. A real action would be a breakout of LNG exports to the Eurozone to buttress the USA’s trade balance and at the same time crash revenues on the Russian side. And simultaneously a Palin refrain of “Drill Baby Drill” in the Bakken and Alaska with the aim of crashing oil prices would leave Putin in the gutter.

Putin is head of one of the three oligarch families that control all oil and gas from Russia, and they don’t like each other much but they currently maintain a truce of sorts. If Putin’s policies result in a crash to their oil and gas revenue streams, the other oligarchs will smash Putin very quickly. But I am thinking like Reagan, not like Obama; silly me.

Putin would not be acting as he is now if he thought Obama would pinch his oil and gas business. Therefore, one has to believe he knew ahead of time how Obama would act.

Now Obama has an opportunity to show (fake) he’s ‘tough’ with the Russians while he gives them unpublished concessions under the table. A foreign crisis with a fabricated ‘tough guy’ counter from Obama may ease pressure on his party’s looming midterm disaster. So far we have reports in the state controlled media of an ‘agreement’ between Putin and Obama but Obama needs more drama and needs it closer to November. Someone is writing a script for this.

But then there’s the prickly thorn of a widely supported bipartisan bill in Congress to open up the export floodgates of LNG to Europe. But this runs counter to a tough guy agreement that Obama’s script writers are working up.

So timing for November and a bipartisan bill that runs counter to Obama’s script for November gives us a sound of crickets from the socialist media for now. April, May, June, July, August, September and an October surprise leaves six months of mischief and crisis building for the democrats to work on. Never let a crisis go to waste.

“The military history of Finland during World War II encompasses three major conflicts. The first two of these  the defensive Winter War in 19391940, and the Continuation War alongside the Axis Powers in 19411944  were waged against the Soviet Union. The third one, the Lapland War in 19441945, followed the signing of an armistice agreement with the Allied Powers, which stipulated expulsion of German forces from Finnish territory.

By the end of hostilities, Finland managed to defend its independence, but had to cede nearly 10% of its territory, including its second largest city, Viipuri, and pay out a large amount of war reparations to the Soviet Union. As a result of this territorial loss, many Finnish Karelians fled or were evacuated from their homes, relocating to areas that remained within the borders of Finland.”

IMO, in recent history, post WW2, the russians move when then detect a weak white house. The most blatant was in Cuba when they “tested” Kennedy. After that, there was Czechoslovakia when they moved into Prague in 68. Johnson was a lame duck and we were too involved in Vietnam. They also corrected calculated the US would do nothing when they invaded Hungary in 56 to prop up their puppet regime. The US was more concerned over the Suez matter and was still reeling from Korea. Since then till Georgia, they have been relatively quite vis a vis the west.

27
posted on 03/31/2014 11:51:20 AM PDT
by Mouton
(The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)

had an odd experience. Spoke to a Finnish immigrant in Florida whose children ended up going to same school. He talked about the rifle his grandfather kept on display over the fireplace that he used to kill Russians. Said that they killed a bunch of them over an ice lake and the survivors that chased them were killed by following them into valleys that they used for ambushes and avalanches.

I think you're right in one respect that the Russians don't care about casualties...or didn't. The fellow I talked to had been in the army for over a year because he said he was an officer and everybody HAD to join the Army. I think he was in one of their infantry units because the guy shot very well and seemed to enjoy his time at the range. He said his father had taught him to shoot when he was 5-6 years old by hunting rabbits.

My point was that the Finns don't think they "lost" but that they just outlasted the Russians and made them bleed. That's the impression that I got from him. He also hated the Russians, even the immigrant ones here in the US..... hate really is about the nicest emotion he displayed where Russians were concerned.

It's going to be tough to see Russian tanks or APC's rolling through the Finnish country side without collecting a couple of rounds.

"My mothers Swedish grandparents immigrated through Finland to the US. Her grandfather was forced to serve in the White Russian Army before leaving."

Are you sure they weren't in Finland all along? Finland was regarded as part of Sweden for many centuries. When my Swedish-speaking grandparents entered thru Ellis Island, they reported they came "from Sweden" though they had never set foot in Sweden and neither did their parents. Indeed,in the US Census reports of 1910, 1920 and 1930, they answered as country of origin "Sweden" then "Russia" then "Finland." Technically speaking, all 3 answers were correct.

~Indeed,in the US Census reports of 1910, 1920 and 1930, they answered as country of origin “Sweden” then “Russia” then “Finland.” Technically speaking, all 3 answers were correct.~

Finland wasn’t a nation-state before 1918. It was a part of Sweden before late 18th century, finally annexed by Russia about 1809 (with active support from the Finns, heavily taxed by Sweden). By the end of 19th century there were some misunderstanding between Finns and tsarist authorities and right after revolution, Russian communists granted them independence in 1918 for the first time.

The Finns made a great little rifle starting about 1939. The 20MM Lahti is semi auto and can dump 10 rounds down range in seconds. A couple of those cross firing a pass or choke point can make an advance really expensive from a half mile away. The round was good for 1”of steel making it hard to hide and I expect the Russians well-remember how expensive their last trip to Finland was. I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume the Fins have stuff at least that good now?

LOL. No chit. I don't know what all Vlad may have in mind, but I do know he seem to be Hell bent on showing Europe just how many places he could make real trouble if he wants to.

I think the powers that be in Russia feel like they've been patted on the had and not taken seriously for long enough.

How much like Soviet Russia the country becomes could depend as much on how Europe deals with Vlad as it does on what he and his crowd want internally. One thing I seriously doubt, though, is that Russia will be changing leaders every four years anytime soon or being led by anyone who believes that Russia is evil and too powerful the way Americans have elected an SOB who hates America.

45
posted on 03/31/2014 1:39:53 PM PDT
by Rashputin
(Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory.)

My uncle was in Helsinki a few years back with his two sons. They are hanging around a fountain and got to talking with a local about WW2, my uncle is a Korea Veteran and history buff. The local pointed at the base of the fountain to what bullet marks, they had fought the Germans where they were standing.

~FRee Republic Platoon of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade arriving shortly to tell us that: 1) The Finns are really a bunch of Nazis and 2) Finland has always been part of Russia.~

You are far outreaching drawing parallels to Ukraine here. Finland has been a part of Russia, but they are a great example of successful self determination and a well-established nation today.
Their international policies and Russian politics respectively are an example to follow. Post-Soviet wannabe nations should take notes.

~Im gonna go out on a limb and assume the Fins have stuff at least that good now?~

IMO, a large part of Finnish armament is of Soviet origin, including small arms, armor and air-defence systems.
I think Finland was among the latest advanced nations to retire Mig-21 too.
They procured scores of East German surplus after German reunification.

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